IN QUAINT, CURIOUS CROATIA
IN THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN PROVINCE OF DALMATIA
government, in perhaps a quarter of an
hour the police will come and seize all
the copies; the editor is also arrested or
else must pay a heavy fine. With the
populace, however, the editor becomes a
hero; such imprisonment is not looked
upon as a shame.
There are no newsboys in Croatia.
Instead a subscriber comes to the office
to get his copy or else it reaches him
through the mail. Hence it is that the
government can seize practically all
copies of an edition within a short time
after appearance. Often, moreover, it
will be two or three days before the
editor may know for just what article he
was fined.
Again, the opposition papers do not
get recognition from the government as
journalists do. Hence they do not get
passes on the government railways, are
refused permits through the police lines
in time of trouble, and have most stren
uous times competing with their more
favored rivals. Strangely enough, in
Croatia they are free to criticise the
Hungarian government, but not that of
Croatia itself.
A traveler in Croatia finds other things
of even greater general interest.
Fiume, the great Magyar seaport, for
example, while appearing on the map as
nominally Croatian, is in fact a royal
free city-one of the very few of the
sort remaining in Europe. It holds di
rect from the Crown.
Fiume has an American interest, in
that it is at this port that the tremendous
hordes of immigrants from the southeast
of Europe embark for America. Ves
sels especially built for immigrant ser
vice take these across at a minimum rate.
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